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Farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPPS) is a crucial protein in terpenoid production. However, its industrial application is limited owing to its low solubility in Escherichia coli . In this study, we focused on ispA encoding FPPS and designed a fusion expression system to reduce inclusion body (IB) formation. Among the chosen fusion tags, the GB1-domain (GB1) exhibited the highest ability to solubilize the recombinant protein. Increased rare tRNA abundance not only improved the GB1-FPPS yield but also increased its soluble level. A "one-step" method for the acquisition of soluble FPPS was also considered. By combining GB1-FPPS expression and Tobacco Etch Virus protease (TEVp) cleavage in vivo , a controllable GB1-FPPS "self-cleavage" system was constructed. Overall, this study provides an efficient approach for obtaining soluble forms of FPPS, which show great potential for use in the soluble expression of other homologous diphosphate synthase.

Linalool is an important terpenoids of floral scents and has wide applications. In the past, several groups reported on a strategy to establish biosynthesis of linalool in yeast based on co-expression of Saccharomyces cerevisiae farnesyl diphosphate synthase ERG20 and Actinidia arguta linalool synthase LIS. However, ERG20 has both geranyl diphosphate synthase and farnesyl diphosphate synthase activities, which can lead to metabolic flow to farnesyl diphosphate. In this study, a heterologous linalool biosynthesis pathway was constructed in Escherichia coli and showed that using Abies grandis geranyl diphosphate synthase GPPS2 instead of ERG20 can effectively improve linalool biosynthesis. Subsequently, we further improved the biosynthesis of linalool by overexpression of isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase Idi., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Geranyl diphosphate (GPP), the unique precursor for all monoterpenoids, is biosynthesized from isopentenyl diphosphate and dimethylallyl diphosphate via the head-to-tail condensation reaction catalyzed by GPP synthase (GPPS). Herein a homomeric GPPS from Camptotheca acuminata, a camptothecin-producing plant, was obtained from 5'- and 3'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends and subsequent overlap extension and convenient PCR amplifications. The truncate CaGPPS was introduced to replace ispA of pBbA5c-MevT(CO)-MBIS(CO, ispA), a de novo biosynthetic construct for farnesyl diphosphate generation, and overexpressed in Escherichia coli, together with the truncate geraniol synthase-encoding gene from C. acuminata (tCaGES), to confirm CaGPPS-catalyzed reaction in vivo. A 24.0 ± 1.3 mg L -1 of geraniol was produced in the recombinant E. coli. The production of GPP was also validated by the direct UPLC-HRMS E analyses. The tCaGPPS and tCaGES genes with different copy numbers were introduced into E. coli to balance their catalytic potential for high-yield geraniol production. A 1.6-fold increase of geraniol production was obtained when four copies of tCaGPPS and one copy of tCaGES were introduced into E. coli. The following fermentation conditions optimization, including removal of organic layers and addition of new n-decane, led to a 74.6 ± 6.5 mg L -1 of geraniol production. The present study suggested that the gene copy number optimization, i.e., the ratio of tCaGPPS and tCaGES, plays an important role in geraniol production in the recombinant E. coli. The removal and addition of organic solvent are very useful for sustainable high-yield production of geraniol in the recombinant E. coli in view of that the solubility of geraniol is limited in the fermentation broth and/or n-decane.

Background: Under aerobic conditions, acetic acid is the major byproduct produced by E. coli during the fermentation. And acetic acid is detrimental to cell growth as it destroys transmembrane pH gradients. Hence, how to reduce the production of acetic acid and how to utilize it as a feedstock are of intriguing interest. In this study, we provided an evidence to produce β-caryophyllene by the engineered E. coli using acetic acid as the only carbon source., Results: Firstly, to construct the robust acetate-utilizing strain, acetyl-CoA synthases from three different sources were introduced and screened in the E. coli. Secondly, to establish the engineered strains converting acetic acid to β-caryophyllene, acetyl-CoA synthase (ACS), β-caryophyllene synthase (QHS1) and geranyl diphosphate synthase (GPPS2) were co-expressed in the E. coli cells. Thirdly, to further enhance β-caryophyllene production from acetic acid, the heterologous MVA pathway was introduced into the cells. What's more, acetoacetyl-CoA synthase (AACS) was also expressed in the cells to increase the precursor acetoacetyl-CoA and accordingly resulted in the increase of β-caryophyllene. The final genetically modified strain, YJM67, could accumulate the production of biomass and β-caryophyllene up to 12.6 and 1.05 g/L during 72 h, respectively, with a specific productivity of 1.15 mg h(-1) g(-1) dry cells, and the conversion efficiency of acetic acid to β-caryophyllene (gram to gram) reached 2.1%. The yield of β-caryophyllene on acetic acid of this strain also reached approximately 5.6% of the theoretical yield., Conclusions: In the present study, a novel biosynthetic pathway for β-caryophyllene has been investigated by means of conversion of acetic acid to β-caryophyllene using an engineered Escherichia coli. This was the first successful attempt in β-caryophyllene production by E. coli using acetic acid as the only carbon source. Therefore, we have provided a new metabolic engineering tool for β-caryophyllene synthesis.

Background: Protoilludene is a valuable sesquiterpene and serves as a precursor for several medicinal compounds and antimicrobial chemicals. It can be synthesized by heterologous expression of protoilludene synthase in Escherichia coli with overexpression of mevalonate (MVA) or methylerythritol-phosphate (MEP) pathway, and farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) synthase. Here, we present E. coli as a cell factory for protoilludene production., Results: Protoilludene was successfully produced in E. coli by overexpression of a hybrid exogenous MVA pathway, endogenous FPP synthase (IspA), and protoilludene synthase (OMP7) of Omphalotus olearius. For improving protoilludene production, the MVA pathway was engineered to increase synthesis of building blocks isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) by sequential order permutation of the lower MVA portion (MvL), the alteration of promoters and copy numbers for the upper MVA portion (MvU), and the coordination of both portions, resulting in an efficient entire MVA pathway. To reduce the accumulation of mevalonate observed in the culture broth due to lower efficiency of the MvL than the MvU, the MvL was further engineered by homolog substitution with the corresponding genes from Staphylococcus aureus. Finally, the highest protoilludene production of 1199 mg/L was obtained from recombinant E. coli harboring the optimized hybrid MVA pathway in a test tube culture., Conclusions: This is the first report of microbial synthesis of protoilludene by using an engineered E. coli strain. The protoilludene production was increased by approx. Thousandfold from an initial titer of 1.14 mg/L. The strategies of both the sequential order permutation and homolog substitution could provide a new perspective of engineering MVA pathway, and be applied to optimization of other metabolic pathways.

Escherichia coli propagates by undergoing cycles of lateral elongation, septum formation, and cell fission at the mid-cell. A large number of genes involved in these processes have been identified, but it is likely that others remain. A deletion mutant of yciB (ΔyciB) is shorter in the cell length compared to wild type and, in contrast, over-expression of yciB causes elongation of the cell. Furthermore, the septum localization of ZipA, an essential protein of cell division, is disturbed in a ΔyciB mutant. Purified YciB protein directly interacted with ZipA, which might indicate that YciB is involved in the cell envelope synthesis directed by ZipA in a PBP3-independent manner., (© 2015 The Molecular Biology Society of Japan and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)

Synthetic biology aspires to construct natural and non-natural pathways to useful compounds. However, pathways that rely on multiple promiscuous enzymes may branch, which might preclude selective production of the target compound. Here, we describe the assembly of a six-enzyme pathway in Escherichia coli for the synthesis of C50-astaxanthin, a non-natural purple carotenoid. We show that by judicious matching of engineered size-selectivity variants of the first two enzymes in the pathway, farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FDS) and carotenoid synthase (CrtM), branching and the production of non-target compounds can be suppressed, enriching the proportion of C50 backbones produced. We then further extend the C50 pathway using evolved or wild-type downstream enzymes. Despite not containing any substrate- or product-specific enzymes, the resulting pathway detectably produces only C50 carotenoids, including ∼ 90% C50-astaxanthin. Using this approach, highly selective pathways can be engineered without developing absolutely specific enzymes.

Sesquiterpenes are important materials in pharmaceuticals and industry. Metabolic engineering has been successfully used to produce these valuable compounds in microbial hosts. However, the microbial potential of sesquiterpene production is limited by the poor heterologous expression of plant sesquiterpene synthases and the deficient FPP precursor supply. In this study, we engineered E. coli to produce α-farnesene using a codon-optimized α-farnesene synthase and an exogenous MVA pathway. Codon optimization of α-farnesene synthase improved both the synthase expression and α-farnesene production. Augmentation of the metabolic flux for FPP synthesis conferred a 1.6- to 48.0-fold increase in α-farnesene production. An additional increase in α-farnesene production was achieved by the protein fusion of FPP synthase and α-farnesene synthase. The engineered E. coli strain was able to produce 380.0 mg/L of α-farnesene, which is an approximately 317-fold increase over the initial production of 1.2 mg/L., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Putative hopanoid genes from Streptomyces peucetius were introduced into Escherichia coli to improve the production of squalene, an industrially important compound. High expression of hopA and hopB (encoding squalene/phytoene synthases) together with hopD (encoding farnesyl diphosphate synthase) yielded 4.1 mg/liter of squalene. This level was elevated to 11.8 mg/liter when there was also increased expression of dxs and idi, E. coli genes encoding 1-deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase and isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase.

Isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase (idi) and farnesyl diphosphate synthase (ispA) genes were overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The resulting transformant showed 6.8-fold higher production of farnesol (389 microg/l). In a similar manner, overexpression of idi and mutated ispA led to high production of geranylgeraniol (128 microg/l).

A short-chain prenyl diphosphate synthase in an Escherichia coli mutant that lacked the gene coding for farnesyl diphosphate synthase, ispA, was separated from other prenyl diphosphate synthases by DEAE-Toyopearl column chromatography. The purified enzyme catalyzed the condensation of isopentenyl diphosphate with dimethylallyl diphosphate to form farnesyl diphosphate and geranylgeranyl diphosphate.

The ispA gene encoding farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) synthase from Escherichia coli and the crtM gene encoding 4,4'-diapophytoene (DAP) synthase from Staphylococcus aureus were overexpressed and purified for use in vitro. Steady-state kinetics for FPP synthase and DAP synthase, individually and in sequence, were determined under optimized reaction conditions. For the two-step reaction, the DAP product was unstable in aqueous buffer; however, in situ extraction using an aqueous-organic two-phase system resulted in a 100% conversion of isopentenyl pyrophosphate and dimethylallyl pyrophosphate into DAP. This aqueous-organic two-phase system is the first demonstration of an in vitro carotenoid synthesis pathway performed with in situ extraction, which enables quantitative conversions. This approach, if extended to a wide range of isoprenoid-based pathways, could lead to the synthesis of novel carotenoids and their derivatives.